A 21st century re-imagining of the Canterbury Tales, set on a vacation
cruise in the midst of the pandemic, a wonderful story for our time
Hoping for an adventure (at a discounted price), two dozen strangers set
sail to balmy St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. As different from one
another as strangers can be, they agree to pass the time by telling
stories, entertaining one another. As the stories are shared, everyone
learns more about their neighbors and starts to bond. Partway though the
voyage, however, they are notified about a virus that has spread across
the United States and their destination. Their ship is quarantined and
they are destined to loll on the waves of the open sea until a port
welcomes them. Stuck together in the confines of the ship, they continue
regaling each other with more tales. A Journey to St. Thomas is modern
re-imagining of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Josiah Hatch, who
studied Anglo Saxon and Middle English languages at Oxford University,
uses iambic pentameter and craftily updates Chaucer's characters to
those on the present-day cruise liner.
